Jennifer Brown

Tonight I got to "meet" (Skype) a very special friend of mine for the first time ever. Her name is Camille, and she was my 5th grade writing partner this year, a program I got involved in thanks to my amazing author friends, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (if you haven't read BEAUTIFUL CREATURES yet... you totally need to stop reading this now and go get your hands on a copy. Seriously.)

Camille didn't know that she was part of my journey through my first year as a published YA author. She was just swapping stories with an unknown author out there, hoping her assigned author wouldn't be a boring dud. (Moi? Boring? As if!)

At first I gave her snippets of a MG novel I was working on. But the story seemed draggy, and I could tell from her writing samples that she was, like me, a girl who craved a bit of the humor in her writing. So I started sending her my columns, and from there we really started to click.

We sent each other photos of the various animals in our lives. Sometimes with hats on them. I sent her photos of the massive amounts of snow we got this year, and she showed me how to make a rose out of symbols on the keyboard.

Today was our "big reveal." She got to finally find out who "her author" was, and I got proof that her smile was as big and gorgeous as I thought it would be. We laughed as my cat, George, pranced back and forth in front of the webcam, and she ooh'd and aww'd appropriately when I turned the cam on Aragorn and Ursula (sans hats this time).

Anyway, Camille told me in her last letter that the best part of 5th grade was the writing partner program. I think it was definitely one of the best parts of my debut year as well. Fifth grade rocks! And my 5th grade writing partner rocked socks!

So here's my shout out to the BEST 5th grade writing partner a gal could ever have: Hey, yo, Camille! Keep writing, girl, 'cause you've got talent! And remember, you promised me a swim in your golden pool when you make that first million! *hugs*